Yesterday I had a chance to make some homemade granola due to an overripe banana that I felt I just COULDN’T waste:

I first combined:

3/4 cup water

pinch sea salt

3 tbsp chia seeds

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1 overripe mashed bananer

and then combined in a separate bowl:

2 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup pecans

Then I combined both together until well mixed.

As usual, I forget to preheat the oven so I had to weight a few minutes while it got to 375 degrees.

Then I layed out the mixture on a foil covered pan and baked for 40 – 50 minutes, carefully mixing the mixture every 10 minutes so that it was evenly baked.

Yum, yum, yum!!

Breakfast this morning was overnight oats:

This concoction featured a new product, Vanilla Hemp Milk, that I was sent coupons for from Living Harvest

The hemp milk has a great flavor, much better than Almond Milk. I used to be a complete soy girl– soy yogurt, soy milk, soy chai lattes, boca burgers, soy protein bars…. you name it, I ate it. The low fat high protein soy sources were a great addition to my diet as a vegetarian/pseudo-vegan and until recently I ate no dairy. Recent research on soy that I’ve read has caused to me eliminate processed soy from my diet and reintroduce dairy. Although there are conflicting arguments on whether or not it is good or bad, I choose to eliminate processed soy from my diet and keep fermented soy in.

Do you eat soy? What soy products do you eat? What’s your position on this issue?

I think my wisdom teeth are infected :/ On the lower right molars in the back of my gums I’ve had pain for a few days and a nasty taste in my mouth from it, I think it’s an infection (pericoronitis?) but can’t get into the dentist until Tuesday. Any thoughts on what I should do??

Have you heard of Galaxy Granola? Their Fruit-Not-Fat product line seems to be sweeping the blogosphere lately and I was sent 3 generously large samples to review from Tristan.

The Fruit-Not-Fat concept is simple enough: using whole fruit instead of oils in their granola to eliminate unnecessary fats.

Their granola boasts:

NO artificial ingredients

NO oil (fruit instead!!)

No corn syrup (AMEN!)

No processed sugar

I was sent the Vanilla Almond, Cranberry Orange, and Not Sweet Vanilla.

All this granola is so overwhelming!! Thus far, I’ve opened the Vanilla Almond to try first (I love GRANOLA and ALMONDS so this seems “parfait” for me =] )

The verdict????? Well, plain by itself- this granola was AMAZING! Great flavors, texture..etc However, I really wasn’t a fan of it on top of my beloved greek yogurt. It didn’t complement the yogurt as well as other granolas (Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax granola) and it just didn’t float my boat.

Alone, with banana slices or dried fruit, supurb great granola. But on top of yogurt, not so much. This granola would probably be a great topping for SIAB (smoothies in a bowl) or warm oats as well.

I love the concept, love the ingredients, love the flavor of the plain granola, but some old habits are just hard to break.

Stay tuned for when I try the other flavors, too!

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You might have noticed that I’ve been missing these last few days. Well, I’ve been a SICKO!

In order to blast this sickness away I’ve been making myself some mean green monsters.

Check this one out that I made:

1 packet Amazing Grass Berry superfood

1 packet Amazing Grass Wheat Grass packet

1 bananer

2-3 cups spinach

frozen strawberries & pineapple

3/4 cup coconut water (mango flavor)

I also had a bit leftover that I stored in the fridge to share this morning with my Pumpkin Banana Overnight Oaters

1.5 tbsp chia seeds soaked in 1/4 cup water (sucks up all of the water)

3/4 cup Fage (1/2 cup in mixture, 1/4 cup on top as whipped cream)

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

pinch salt

2 tsp agave

1 bananer sliced thick

1/3 cup rolled oats

DELICIOUS! I love everything pumpkin and these oats were thick and creamy– the lack of almond milk makes it SO thick, which I love.

I had a peanut butter larabar, 2 apples and banana as a small lunch/snack.

Whenever I’m sick I always want very very salty soup. So, as an early dinner (because of my smaller lunch/snack) I combined:

1 cup of cabbage

1 cup of spinach

lots of celery (i would guess 1 cup)

lots of zucchini (would also guess 1 cup)

1 packet of miso soup mix

1 tsp sea salt

a couple small spoonfuls of vegeta to add more flavor

1 & 1/2 cup water

I boiled this for 20 – 25 minutes and it was very tasty and hit the spot.

When I’m sick, I also love drinking herbal teas because they make me feel better. Whether they have any medicinal benefits or its just all in my head, I don’t know. But- I know that whatever makes me feel better is good & so I keep on drinking ‘em :)

Do you freak out about party foods & drinks or let yourself indulge a little? How do you cope with situations like these? I let myself eat what I feel like eating and don’t deprive myself of treats like cake or fattening foods because special occasions call for exceptions, in my opinion.

To help people lead healthier more active lives by achieving their full potential through better nutrition. We strive to educate the world by spreading the word about the amazing benefits of cereal grasses. Amazing Grass will spare no resources or expense to produce nutritionally superior products with the highest quality organic cereal grasses available anywhere in the world.

They were generous enough to send me TWO samples of each superfood and one of each bar, you can just guess how excited I was to try all of these!

It’s definitely going to take me a while to get through them all but I had a chance to try TWO packets thus far.

As I was making my overnight oats last night I had a brilliant ingenius idea to incorporate the CHOCOLATE SUPERFOOD into my oats!

I combined:

1/3 cup vanilla almond milk

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 packet of CHOCOLATE GREEN SUPERFOOD

and then added:

1 cup greek yogurt

1 banana, 1/2 sliced thick and 1/2 pureed

1 tbsp flax

pinch salt

1 tsp agave

It was DELICIOUS! The chocolate superfood make it taste like dessert for breakfast! I’m definitely making this combo again, and might mix it with just yogurt for dessert.

I think I’m going to call ‘em Chocolate Cream Pie Overnight Oats!

I also tried the KIDZ SUPERFOOD Wild Berry Flavor straight up with 4 – 6 ounces of water in a wine glass:

The flavor was good and I think it would have tasted better with juice or in a smoothie. It wasn’t the tastiest thing I’ve ever dranken but for something so dang healthy it was GREAT!

Blue Mountain Organics is a mission-focused company, founded to demonstrate the holistic and symbiotic relationship between people, food, and environment and between worker and business. We accomplish these goals by bringing to the public the most deliciously raw and pure organic products sourced from the most fair and conscious providers. We commit to working towards a more harmonious and sustainable world. We exist to demonstrate that business is naturally moving beyond being destructive, and even beyond sustainability, to serving as a regenerative force on earth.

Blue Mountain Organics is a dynamic and innovative team that lives to promote the well-being of our bodies and our beautiful planet by offering healthy, organic and delicious food products at competitive prices.

We strongly believe in using and supporting organic agriculture as it is the only sustainable way to grow food for generations without depleting and toxifying the environment. Also, by being nutrient rich, organic foods foster healthy bodies. Sourcing and providing organic foods is fundamental to our mission as a company.

Blue Mountain Organics views eating raw foods, exposed only to heat below 118°F, as part of a healthy lifestyle. We have researched the foods we carry and the processes by which they are obtained and/or extracted. We believe that you can taste and feel the difference raw foods make.

& also:

The Raw Bakery™ produces a full line of organically delicious low-temperature dehydrated sweet and savory superfood treats. We use ingredients from our Better Than Roasted™ line, offering a raw, wholesome alternative to traditional bakery products.

All of The Raw Bakery’s whole nuts, seeds, and grains have gone through the Better Than Roasted™ process, which means they have been soaked, sprouted, and dehydrated. Sprouted nuts and seeds are easier to digest because our process removes phytates, which have been found to inhibit digestion.

The Better Than Roasted sprouting process also increases the bioavailability of essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients in our nuts and seeds.

The Raw Bakery is excited to offer a purely satisfying alternative to baked goods. Try some of our delicious raw treats. We are confident that you will enjoy them as much as we do!

In addition, all of The Raw Bakery products are:

• Raw & Vegan

• Premium, Quality Ingredients

• Sweetened with Agave Nectar

• Dairy and Soy Free, Non-GMO

• USDA Certified Organic

• Certified Kosher

• Sprouted Superfoods

• Made to Order in Small Batches

How awesome is that?!

If you’re a coconut lover, as I tend to be, you’ll LOVE this item! It had a great chewy filling texture that had a strong coconut/nutty taste and the chocolate outside complemented it well.

It twas delicious and enjoyed with a lovely cup of coffee, also in a *new* mug from Disney with a “M” for Monica!

After breakfast, I made my lunch to bring to class today. A new goal of mine is to try to eat 3 whole meals instead of resorting to a lot of snacking. I often don’t have time to make a full lunch in between classes and don’t want to spend money to go out to lunch, so I snack on bars throughout the day for lunch. I recently discovered that I actually LIKE salads, I’ve always thought they were a not-so-tasty, poor excuse for a meal, so I’m going to try to pack a salad or sandwich everyday for lunch.

I haven’t ran a Rock n Roll race & they look like great events! Have you ran one?Any races you suggest I look into running?? I’m mainly interested in running halfs because I’m running the full Chicago Marathon in October.

Anyways, I also haven’t mentioned in this blog that I take vitamins. I take a multi-vitamin and a biotin supplement.

I used to not take a multi-vitamin because I believe you should get all your vitamins and minerals from the food you eat, but a little while ago I decided that taking a multivitamin wouldn’t hurt me as long as I continued to eat foods rich in vitamins as well. I also take Biotin because it’s supposedly good for hair, skin, and nail health.

Do you take any vitamins or supplements? Which one’s do you take??

Also, Kenzie from Healthy Purpose was kind enough to award me with a Creative Blogger award! I’m going to have to return the favor and award some bloggers later today in a post, so STAY TUNED!!